Several heads were left being scratched on Thursday after Russia used some hardcore techno beats in a dark auditorium decked out to look like an underground dance club to present the official 2018 World Cup ball. Messi will actually try to spin some of his magic on the Telstar 18 when Argentina take on Russia in a friendly at Moscow’s completely refurbished Luzhniki Stadium on Saturday. Controversies over whether balls were too light or uncontrollable for those bend-them-like-Beckham free kicks have dogged many a recent World Cup. Adidas has said little about Telstar 18 except that it is a modern interpretation of the original Telstar design used in 1970 and 1974 -- golden years for Pele’s Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer’s West Germany. The team crashed out of the 2017 Confederations Cup in the group stages and has faced intense fan and government pressure to show up when it hosts the World Cup for the first time.

Source: Hindustan Times November 10, 2017 03:45 UTC